Creamed Corn with Bacon

I'm convinced that if you put "with bacon" in the title of almost any recipe, more people will make it!  Don't you agree?  Creamed Corn sounds good and all, but Creamed Corn with Bacon....much better!

I've got a fabulous straight forward Creamed Corn recipe on here already, but if you love bacon (& onions and garlic and jalapenos!), this is the one for you!  We like to serve it with our Chicken Cordon Bleu as a side dish, but I could eat it as a main dish...which is what I usually do for lunch the next day with the leftovers.  Heat up a big bowl and dig in....y.u.m!  It is also a perfect side to go with any grilling you'll be doing throughout the summer, but just know, it may just be the hit of the show instead of your main dish!  It's a spotlight hog!:)

Creamed Corn with Bacon

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10 strips of bacon

1 yellow onion, diced

1 jalapeno, diced

1 clove of garlic, pressed or minced

3 cups frozen sweet kernel corn

8 oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Salt & pepper to taste

Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crispy.  Remove to a paper towel lined plate to cool.  Drain bacon grease, leaving about 2 tablespoons in the skillet.

Add the onion, jalapeno (remove seeds and ribbing before dicing if you like less heat.  That's what I did and it was perfect!), and garlic & cook until the onion is translucent.  Add the corn and cook until it is warmed through, about 6-7 minutes.  Reduce heat to low.  

Break cream cheese until chunks and add to the corn mixture along with the heavy cream, salt and pepper.  Stir until cream cheese has melted and incorporated with the corn.  

Place corn in a serving bowl and top with bacon pieces. 

Fried Rice

I think my family would be good for life if we just ate rice for every meal.  They love Spanish Rice & Hawaiian Haystacks, and this Fried Rice!

 

You really can't mess up this rice either, and you can totally play around with it.  Throw in some green onions or some chopped ham, whatever vegetables you like and it will still be delicious!  I usually use frozen mixed vegetables in ours because I always seem to have some of that on hand, but you can use whatever you like.  I think fried rice needs to have at least peas and carrots in it, but that's just me...do what you like.:)

 

This recipe makes quite a bit of rice, I'm going to say about 5-6 cups.  But we love it because (like I said in last weeks post) it's perfect for lunches for the middle schoolers who have access to a microwave at lunchtime.  But feel free to half the recipe if needed.  Also, we love to use Jasmine rice, but you could use any rice that you perfer.  Brown works wonderfully as well!

 

Fried Rice

(Budget Dinner: the entire recipe cost only about $3.20!  That's 53 cents per 1 cup serving!)
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2 cups uncooked rice

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cups frozen vegetables, thawed (your choice but make sure you have peas and carrots!)
1 small onion, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup soy sauce

Cook rice.  You can use leftover rice or you can cook the rice ahead of time if desired.  I usually just cook my rice right along with this recipe.  I use my rice cooker and it takes about 20 minutes to have my jasmine rice ready.  If you are using brown rice it will take longer.  Set aside.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the thawed vegetables, onions and garlic and saute until tender, about 3-5 minutes. 

Turn heat down to medium low.  Push the veggie mix to one side of the skillet & then add the eggs to the other side and fry them until scrambled.  Add the rice and soy sauce and mix all ingredients together.  Stir and cook until heated through.